RTTNews - Bay Street stocks have turned notably higher on Tuesday morning, easily erasing modestly losses in the opening half-hour. Markets saw strength following an encouraging consumer confidence report out of the U.S.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index has risen 144.01 points or 1.43% to move at 10,213.51. The rally took the index away from the weekly low it tested in the early going.

Financials have gained 2.5% as a run of earnings reports from the big banks got started. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is up 3.1% despite reporting second-quarter adjusted net income of C$518 million or $0.91 per share, compared with C$614 million or $1.19 per share a year ago.

The company also declared a dividend for the third quarter that was unchanged from the year-ago period as well as the preceding second quarter.

Tech stocks are showing a 2.1% jump with Blackberry-maker Research in Motion (RIM.TO) showing a 3.75% gain.

In other corporate news, Denison Mines Corp. (DML.TO) has dropped 12.1%. The company announced that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of investment dealers which have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 40 million common shares of Denison at a purchase price of C$2.05 per common share, for aggregate gross proceeds in the amount of C$82.0 million.

Biovail Corp. (BVF.TO) is up 1.75% after it announced the settlement of proxy contest with founder and former chief executive officer Eugene Melnyk in connection with the annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held on May 28. Biovail said Melnyk agreed to attend the shareholders' meeting in person or by proxy for quorum purposes and to vote the 16.42 million common shares held by him and his holding company EM Holdings B.V. in favor of company's nominees and in favour of all other matters proposed by company.

TMX Group Inc. (X.TO) announced that Richard Nadeau, Senior Vice President Toronto Stock Exchange is leaving the company. Shares are up 0.65%.

Canadian Auto Workers members voted in favor of a new cost-cutting deal with General Motors Corp. (GM) a key condition for the automaker to receive billions in government loans from Canada and Ontario.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported employment insurance claims rose 10.6% to 65,300 in March. While the number of people receiving benefits climbed in March, the number of initial and renewal claims received during that month edged down 1.9%.

Across the border, a Conference Board report showed that the consumer confidence index rose to 54.9 in May from an upwardly revised 40.8 in April. Economists had expected the index to edge up to 42.6 from the 39.2 originally reported for the previous month.